Hardin County, Ken., looking at passenger rail

If efforts to
re-establish passenger rail service in Hardin County, Ken., were a children's
story, it would be titled, "The Little Engine that Couldn't." Regardless of
how tall that hill may be, though, two recent developments have given at least
some steam to the possibility, local newsppers report.

First, the Federal
Railroad Administration last month approved a $250,000 grant to investigate the
possibility of high-speed passenger service along a route that may include
Hardin County. Second, a push to establish service from Louisville, Ken., to
Hardin County apparently is not dead, although a year has passed without
funding for a feasibility study.

The corridor that the FRA
is looking into would go from Chicago to Atlanta, passing through Louisville
and Nashville, Tenn. While it's too early to say if this service would include
Hardin County, rail advocate David Morse said he thinks Elizabethtown probably
would be a stop along the route. After all, an interstate and a major rail
line connecting Louisville and Nashville pass through there. Morse said it
would be a second-tier route, though, and establishing it would come after one
from Chicago to St. Louis, for instance.

Also, advocates in Georgia
were disappointed to receive such a small portion of the president's $8-billion
pool of rail grants, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"It is possible a funding
stream could materialize in the future," Morse said. He thinks the White House
was surprised at the popularity of high-speed rail.

As for the Hardin County to
Louisville project, the Transit Authority of River City has asked the
Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency for $120,000 to fund the
initial study. The development agency isn't sure if money will be available
for the project this year, spokesman Josh Suiter said. The picture will become
clearer at the end of the fiscal year when the agency finds out how much money
is left over to pay for projects of outside groups.

If a rail service is
established the early challenge would be getting enough riders, Morse said. If
only 60 people were aboard, why not just run a bus? He said commuter rail
really starts to cook once a train has 100 to 150 riders. About 15,000 people
in 2000 commuted between Hardin, Meade and Jefferson counties, according to the
Census Bureau.

Members of Morse's group
met with Hardin and Jefferson county officials in 2008 for a demonstration ride
between Cecilia and Louisville along the Paducah and Louisville Railway. The
line likely would go from Louisville to Elizabethtown, according to the
planning study application.

Growth at Fort Knox Army
post is seen as a selling point for such an endeavor. "

This is a pretty affordable
project," Morse said.

There also was talk of a
possible commuter train stop here about 10 years ago when Amtrak considered a
Chicago to Nashville route. There has been no local passenger rail service
since the 1970s.